Fire-escape.



J. J. DANIELS.

FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION FILED mum-6, 1915.

PatentedSept. 14, 1915.

v 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 59 JOHN J- DaNiE s COLUMBIA PLANOCIRARN 00., WASHINGTON, D. c.

Patented Sept. 14, 1915.

J. J. DANIELS.

FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 6. 1915.

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m er nna ornion.

JOHN J. DANIELS, or ALBImIowa.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

. Application filed March 6, 1915. Serial No. 12,601.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN J. DANIELS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Albia, in the county of Monroe and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Escapes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My present invention relates to new and useful improvements in fire escapes and has particular reference to the so-called semiportable fire escape.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a fire escape which consists essentially in a tower, in which an elevator is adapted to be raised and lowered, the tower being mounted on tracks so that it may be moved along the wall of a building to permit the occupants of different rooms and portions of the building to use theelevator.

An object of equal importance with the foregoing is to so construct the tower that a ladder may be attached to one side thereof, making it possible for persons'on the ground to mount the tower, without necessitating the operation of the elevator cage.

Another'and important object of the invention is to equip the elevator cage with a braking device which may be operated by the occupants of the cage for controlling the speed of the cage during its descent. v

Still another object is to equip the winding drum on which the hoisting cable of the elevator cage, is wound with'abrakeband and to connect the brake band with a controlling lever disposed to be operated by a person on the ground, at the foot of the tower. V x s V The above and otherincidental' objects of a similar nature which will be hereinafter more specifically treated are accomplished by such means as willbe illustrated in the accompanying drawings, described in the. following speclfication and then more particularly pointed out in the claims which are appended hereto and form a part of this application. y

lVith reference to the drawings, wherein there has been illustrated the preferred embodiment of this invention, as it is reduced topractice, and throughout the several views of which. similar reference numerals designate corresponding parts, Figure lis a front elevation showing the fire escape set up for use, adj acentto the wall of a building. Fig.

Specification of LettersPatent.

ally atA in the drawings.

Patented Sept. 14, 1915.

2 is a side elevation of the fire escape applied to the building; and Fig. 3 is a detail view in side elevation of the elevator cage illustrating particularly the brake mechanism which accompanies the cage.

The preferred embodiment of my invention includes broadly as its essential elements,a tower designated as an entirety by the numeral 10, a cage 11, and a track 12 which is attached to the wall of a building and serves as a support for the upper end rigidity and fixed relation of the standards.

The standards and braces, as are the other portions of the tower, are preferably formed of metal, although some other material may be employed, if deemed advisable. Bolts or any other. equivalent fastening devices may be employed in securing the braces to the standards. The lower braces 17 and 21' are arranged to bear upon a pair of sills 30 and 31. Fastening devices indicated at 32 are employed in securing the braces 17 and 21 to the sills, as shown in Fig. 1. A pair of additional cross bars 33 and 34 areplaced upon the upper faces of the sills to insure the maintenance of these members in parallel spaced relation to each other- The two sills constitute a supporting base for the tower which memberis adapted to move over the ground 'immediatelyadjacent the wall of the building, indicated conventionp Grooved wheels indicated at 35 are provided for the sills so that these members may be. moved along tracks B and thus support the tower in proper positionadjacent any portion of the building. From the upper end of the standards 15 and 16, rise apair of vertical hanger bars 36 and 37 to the upper ends of which is secured a horizontal hanger bar 38 equipped with rollers or. grooved wheels 39. Thesewheels 39 ofthe hanger bar 38 are adapted to ride along the track 12. This track is, as previously explained, secured by suitable supporting members to the building adjacent the cornice thereof.

As has been previously set forth it is the primary object of this invention to provide a tower in which an elevator cage is mounted and to design the tower for movement along the wall of the building, so that occupants of the different rooms may all avail themselves of the elevator; It'is, therefore, obvious, that it is necessary to provide some means whereby the tower may be mechani cally moved along the track. In this conneetion, I employ the pairs of operating cables iO and 40' and 4:1 and a1, which are adapted to be wound upon drums 42 and 3. The members 40 and 41 are respectively attached to the tower, adjacent the upper and lower terminals thereof, as are the members 40 and 41. The drums 4:2 andl are located at opposite ends of the building wall, beingjournaled on suitable axles and being accompanied with conventional operating handles as shown in Fig. 1. The cables 40 and 41 are passed over the respective pulleys all and 4&5 so that they will run as freely as possible when the tower is being moved along the track. Itwill be readily apparent that by means of the drums and cables, the

the cage.

tower may be moved along the track in either direction to" dispose the elevator-to any desired portion of the building.

The elevatorcag'e hereinbefore designated as an entirety by the'numeral 11, is of con ventional design, including'a floor-(i6, and the vertical corner posts l7. The cage is, of course, mounted for Vertical movement and'is guided during theraising and lowering operation by means of vertical guide bars i8 and which are secured to the horizontal brace members of the frame. A pair of vertically disposed, spaced, parallel guide plates are provided for each side of the elevator cage, as indicated at 50 and 51. It should be noted thatthe guide plates are substantially L-shaped' in cross section and that the lower terminal of each guide memher is secured by a single bolt or equivalent member 52. The upper endof each guide plate is provided with a horizontally disposed slot 53 whichis located in that portion of the plate which bears against the wall of In'these slots are disposed the bolts indicated at 53. It will be obvious that while the guide platesare held against removal from' the elevator cage, they are capable of a slight swinging movement,such

as will permit them to be tightly o'r loosely engaged against the guide bars or strips of the tower. The purpose in thus rendering the guide plates capable of movement. toward or away from the guide bars of the tower is to permit the use of brake members which may be operated by the occupantsof the car. Such a brakemember is arranged 58 to the levers 5st and 55.

and are arranged to bear against the adjacent guide plate. An operatinglever 56 is connected by a pair of pivoted links 57 and Obviously, the lever 56 may be manipulated to draw the levers or arms 5%and downwardly, causing their ends to engage the pair of guide plates with the resultant frictional contact of these members against the guide bars with such severity as will cause the speed of the cage in its descent to be slackened. It'will be noted from Fig. 3 that the lower ends of the brake members or braking shoes 50 and 51 are arranged quite closely adjacent to the web of the guide bar 48, but still not touch this guide bar. The members 54 and 55 have wedging engagement with the flanges of the brake shoes 50 and 51 and thus as the lever 56 is depressed, the levers 5st and 55 are also depressed and gradually force the upper ends of the brake members nearer to the web 48. At this time, the members 54 and 55 are brought into a nearly horizontal position and, therefore, exert a very great leverage upon the members 50 and 51. The members54; and 55 act, when in a nearly horizontal position, very much like toggle links and thus a comparatively light force applied to depress the lever 56 maybe used to exert a very great holding power upon the guide 48. After each descent, the cage is adapted to be again elevated, as soon as the occupants of the cage have stepped out, meansof a weight 59 which is'connected to the cage by a cable 60. The cable 60 is arranged to play over a drum or belt wheel 61 whichis journaled on an axle or shaft 62 supported 011 cross beams 63 mounted on the upper end of the tower. The belt wheel 61 is'accompanied by a flexible handbrake 64:, the one end of which is attached to a transverse rod 65 secured to the memberst-i and the other end of which is operatively connected to a controlling lever 66 by means of a cable or similar element 67. Obviously, the lever 66 may be manipulated to cause the retarding of the belt wheel by the tightening ofthe brake band thereabout.

From the foregoing description it will now be apparent that the present fire escape may be easily and quickly moved along the wall of a building to bring the passenger elevator cage within reach of the occupants of any room of the building fronting on the wall adjacent which the tower is arranged. It will also be seen that the elevator cage may be prevented from descending at a dangerous speed by the utilization of the cage brakeby the occupants of the car themselves. Furthermore, it will be noted that the operators to accompany the tower with a ladder 69.1 Preferably this ladder is attached to the side of the tower by bolts or other fastening devices 70, so that it will be rigidly secured.

It has been found desirableto place a plurality of springs or equivalent shock absorbing devices on the cross bars 33 and 34: so that the occupants of the cage will not be subjected to severe shock on the landing of the cage.

In reduction to practice, it has been found that the form of this invention illustrated in the drawings, and referred to in the above description as the preferred embodiment, is the most eflicient and practical; yet realizing that the conditions concurrent with the adoption of this device will necessarily vary, it is desirable to emphasize the fact that various minor changes in details of construction, proportion and arrangement of parts may be resorted to,rwhen required, Without sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention, as defined by the appended claims. I

lVhat is claimed is:-

l. A fire escape of the character described including an elevator cage, a vertical guide H bar, along which the cage moves, a pair of guide plates pivotallymounted attheir lower ends on each side of the guide bar, and closely adjacent thereto, and means operable to move the guide plates into frictional engagement with the guide bar, to thereby control the speed of the cage in descending, said means including members pivoted to the cage, each having wedging engagement 7 with one of said guide plates, and manually V operable means for shifting, the said members into such wedging engagementto force the guide plates against the guide bar.

2. The combination with an elevator cage,

Copies of this patent may be obtained for and a vertically disposed guide member therefor, of brake members pivoted at their lower ends upon the frame of the elevator and disposed one on each side of and closely adjacent to the vertical guide, said brake members being adapted to be moved into or out of parallel relation and frictional engagement with the guide, oppositely disposed actuating members pivotally mounted at their outer ends upon the frame of the car and at their inner ends operatively engaging said brake members, and a lever operatively connected to both of said actuating members to simultaneously shift the actuating members toward the horizontal position to thereby shift the brake members into parallel relation and into frictional engagement with the guide.

3. A fire escape of the character described including a tower, and an elevator cage vertically movable therein, guide bars secured vertically within the tower at opposite sides thereof, a pair of guide plates movably mounted at each side of the elevator cage, the individual guide plates of each pair being disposed to bear against oppositesides of the adjacent guide bar, and means operable from within the cage for moving the guide plates into severe frictional engagement with the guide bars for controlling the speed of the cage in descent, said means including a pair of pivoted levers arranged to terminally bear against the outer faces of the guide plates, an operating lever, and linkmembers connecting the operating lever. and the first mentioned levers, whereby the terminals of the first mentioned, levers 7 JOHN J. DANIELS.

lVitnesses:

ELMER S. LOEB, J. E. LOEB.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D; 0.? 

